Butterfly in a Bell Jar
by Miss Dusk
Summary: The Joker has gotten out of Arkham. He threatens a reporter to do his dirty work to find out who this Batman really is. She must help him but she needs to get out of The Joker's clutches before she does something that she will regret!
1. Prologue

Prologue: Setting the Stage

Clouds covered Gotham City the night when the Joker escaped from Arkham. The moon was nowhere to be found in the night sky. Even the stars were hiding in the safety of the clouds. Maybe they all knew of the diabolical plot that was being carried out at that moment and they all didn't want to help by shedding light on the streets.

The streets were dirty with cigarette butts from the prostitutes that worked on this side of town. The ground was covered with various papers strewn all over the place. Most of the papers were newspaper with the newest article about how the Batman was a menace.

The Joker was walking down these dirty, littered streets, feeling as free as a bird. He had been running away from Arkham Asylum at the speed of light.

He noticed that papers strewn on the ground and picked one up. He scanned the article about Batman but there was nothing that was helpful or even anything close to the truth written. The Joker wondered vaguely how many corrupt reporters there were in Gotham Daily News. He would have to find out someday.

Right at the moment, he had other fish to fry. It was time to get the bat out of the cave, for good.


	2. Chapter 1: Gotham Is Unsafe

Chapter 1: Gotham Is Unsafe…er

_THE __JOKER ESCAPED FROM ARKHAM!!_

Locals are terrified of smiling fiend!

It was reported last night at roughly 1am the infamous Joker (also known as "Clown Prince") escaped from Arkham Asylum for the Criminally Insane. He is considered armed and VERY dangerous.

The details of The Joker's escape are vague and full of contradictions. Some say that they saw the Joker just strolling out the asylum. Others say that he was able to break into the garage where they keep all the special cars to transport the inmates in and out of the asylum.

The guard that was on duty heard several moaning noises as if the patient had been hurt. "Seeing as several [of the patients] use this technique to get attention, I just ignored it. But it kept getting worse. It really sounded like he was in pain." The guard (who wishes to remain anonymous) said when asked later what happened. "When I went in, I didn't even see him coming. All I remember was waking up later in a straight-jacket with a needle at my side."

"There were a lot of noise complaints that night." The director, Jeremiah Arkham, was quoted saying, "Most of my staff are told to ignore the noises. Lots of patients can be heard screaming at night when they are sleeping. It is not my fault that the guard was unfortunate enough to fall for a patient's tricks."

This response is not very surprising given the amount of breakouts that generally occur in one year at Arkham Asylum. It has a record of about 13 out of 18 inmates (which is a shocking 72%) breaking out before a one-year stay is complete.

The Joker was last seen walking down Parker St. (also known as Hooker's Bay or Tuity Fruity Lane). A very frazzled young woman had seen the infamous criminal walking along. He had threatened her with a knife. No harm was done but the mayor has issued an immediate arrest of this fiendish man.

The Joker had been arrested for the near single-handed destruction of Gotham a few months ago. He blew up Gotham General Hospital, assaulted police officers, and murdered several people in order to get Batman to reveal his true identity. The Joker was arrested once and managed to escape custody by blowing up half of the police precinct. He was arrested a few days later and put straight in Arkham Asylum where he was under maximum security.

Again, the Joker is considered armed and very dangerous. Anyone who sees him should call the authorities right away. DO NOT try and deal with him on your own. A special line has been set up just for calls about possible Joker sightings: 856-555-2130.

Bruce Wayne folded the paper angrily after reading the article about the Joker's escape. He didn't want to believe that he was out there again. He had worked so hard to get him into prison, into ARKHAM.

"Sir?" Alfred asked carrying in his usual morning breakfast, he noticed Bruce sitting on the chair in the living room with a deeply troubled look on his face, "I assume you read the paper then. It's all over the news." He knew what Bruce was thinking when he saw his face, "Are you going to be alright?"

"I don't think I can go up against him again." Bruce managed to say, "He was getting under my skin then when I didn't know what he was like. Now that I know…" he drifted off for a second, "I'm worried that I won't come out the victor this time."

Alfred gently put down the tray on the table next to the chair, "The Joker is a man that is very manipulative. This, we know. He managed to get you to really think about revealing who you are to the public. What you need to do, is find him and get him back into prison before he causes as much damage as last time." Alfred said sagely, "It won't be easy Master Wayne, but if you're looking in the right places when the right clues come along… I think you'll be able to do it."

Bruce just looked at the headlines of the paper with calculating eyes, wondering what move the Joker was going to make next.

"What do you think he wants this time?" Alfred asked reading his expression perfectly.

"Same as last time: me."


	3. Chapter 2: Gotham Daily News

Chapter 2: Gotham Daily News

Gotham City was like any normal city during the day. The buses were always late carrying the busy workmen and women to whichever destination they needed to get to in an absolute hurry. There were traffic jams on the busiest streets during rush hour which was made obvious by the loud honking of horns and shouts out of windows of one person telling everyone what they really thought of the other's driving skills. The cab drivers are always insane, taking the poor passenger into a long mess just so that the driver can make a few extra dollars.

The buildings loom large in the midday sun and the sidewalks were grimy from thousands of people walking on them everyday after they had given up on their cars, busses, and cabs during the week.

In one of the busiest sections of town, there was a man with a long coat, a hat, and sunglasses on. He casually walked through the glass doors to the Gotham Daily News. When he entered the rotunda and swiftly headed towards the elevators.

Luckily they weren't very busy at this time of day, everyone had already headed off to lunch for the hour. The man with the glasses was still impatient, "Come on, come on," he growled as he punched the button vigorously. The elevator bell dinged happily, much to his annoyance.

He entered the elevator and pressed the button for the bottom floor where records were kept. He needed to be quick people would be returning and he had a research to do.

The elevator dinged happily again as it let out the man onto the lowest level of Gotham Daily News. Even though, there was no one down there, the security cameras were watching the doors to the record room closely. He needed to be careful, so far, he had gotten through undetected.

As soon as he entered the room, the man instantly took off his sunglasses and hat to revel that he was, in fact The Joker. The slimy curly blondish-green hair fell from the hat, his face that was covered in make-up smiled wide at his entrance undetected.

"Must be quick," he said to himself as he walked through several rows of computers that were all empty. The Joker giggled.

He pulled up a spinny-chair in front of a computer. He looked around to make sure that no one was really around. Feeling satisfied, he started to look through the Gotham Daily News records.

What he was looking for, he really couldn't say. He wanted to find someone who was good at their job and was CLEAN. He couldn't have a dirty reporter walking around working for him, they would be the first group of people to get whacked and he needed someone long term.

"Who's this?" he muttered to himself as he came across an article that was talking about how Harvey Dent's death was a political tragedy by a Annabell Valence. Obviously, she didn't know what The Joker had done to him before Harvey had died his "tragic" death.

Now, The Joker was intrigued. He looked her up in the Gotham Daily News files of their employees. Her next proposed assignment made him laugh heartily out loud. It was to investigate his cell in Arkham and write on the security in there.

"You and I are destined to work together," he said as he looked at her profile picture in the employee records. She was young, single, and from the looks of her, she's never gotten a speeding ticket in her life, never mind arrested.

"Annabell, Anna-bell, my dearest Annie," he muttered, licking his lips. He jotted down her address and decided that tonight; he needed to wear his best purple suit.


	4. Chapter 3: Arkham Gets a Visitor

Chapter 3: Arkham Gets A Visitor

Annabell did not like the look of Arkham one bit. It was scary enough, driving on the dark, winding, road to get to the creepy house that just needed a lightening flash behind it. The house was definitely of the classic haunted house variety, complete with a maniac graveyard out back.

As Annabell was waiting for someone to answer the door, she couldn't help but stare at the crosses made out of white pipes. The way that they stuck jauntily out of the ground was beyond eerie at this point, it was terrifying.

"Our Father, who art in heaven…" she started before she was abruptly cut short by a loud electronic buzzing sound admitting her into the building.

Instantly a smell of stale urine hit her, followed by the screams of the occupants. Annabell was looking at the wooden winding staircase leading to the upstairs when she noticed a rather large black man dressed in white was staring at her intently.

"You must be Miss Valence, I'm Jamal," he said kindly. He offered her his hand, she quickly shook it, too nervous to make any lasting contact with anyone.

"Yes, I'm afraid I am," she gave out a nervous giggle.

"Don't worry. Nothing is going to happen to you here. All the inmates have been sedated for your visit," Jamal said calmly as he lead her out of the entranceway.

A loud scream was heard throughout the entire building.

"S—Sedated? Are you sure?" Annabell stuttered.

"There are those here that sedation causes them to relive their worst moments. They have a tendency to scream a lot…" Jamal let the sentence drift off.

"This must be an awful place to work," Annabell said hoping to start doing her job.

"The hours aren't bad and they take real good care of us around here," Jamal said, giving her a smile, "Come along, I'll lead you to where you need to be."

Jamal led her through a white door that led to a massive room that looks like it housed well over 200 people, her nerves were getting the better of her.

"I'm not going to leave you ma'am. It's part of my job to protect those that come here to visit," he said proudly.

Annabell nodded, there was a walkway to all the cells, it just went up in one long upward slant. The prisoners were either hanging on the bars, looking stoned, or they were curled up in a ball on the floor of their cells.

"T-tell me about this place Jamal," she asked shakily pulling out a pad of paper and a pen from her black pleather purse.

"Well, it all started with Jeremiah Arkham's great-grandparents or something like that. His great-grandmother got ill, so the great-grandfather decided to take care of her. Well, until he decided to kill her one night and open this house as a mental institution, that is."

"You mean, this is the house that they lived in?" she asked disbelieving that Arkham was once someone's home.

"Yup, of course, they had to do a lot of rebuilding and adding on as the years went on. But, they say that ol' Arkham has never really left this place," Jamal smiled, "but you're not here for ghost stories, are you?"

"No, I'm not," Annabell said as she eyed a cell that was labeled, "Mad Hatter." The man inside had a very large green hat on and seemed to float in mid-air.

"Well, Jeremiah Arkham runs this place now. He's doing a pretty poor job in my opinion. Most people here feel that he should be a resident here, not running the place."

"Really?" Annabell asked very intrigued, "Why would you say that?"

"He's got a special kind of insanity no one can put a finger on. We all know that he's not right in the head but we can't figure out what he has, so we can't lock him up. It's a Catch-22." Jamal steered Annabell away from the Mad Hatter and lead her even higher up the winding walkway.

"Is The Joker's cell in a maximum security division?" she asked.

"This whole place is max security," he replied, "It beats the hell out of me as to how Mister J got out of here."

"Mister J?" she asked slowly with a puzzled look on her face.

"That's what The Joker insisted on everyone calling him when he was here. I guess we just figured he liked it because it showed that he was superior to us all... intellectually. He was one bad apple Miss Valence," Jamal explained, "Here is his cell. I'll be right outside if you need anything. Just holler for me."

Annabell's hands shook as she opened the cell door. It looked like the lock had been picked at but never successfully completed. She stepped into the cell and felt her knees shake. All around the cell was the message, "HA! HA!" written in either red paint or blood.

"Jamal, did The Joker have access to his face paints while he was here?" she asked.

"No he did not."

Annabell did not like the knot that was growing in her stomach, "So, am I to assume that these markings are made in blood?" Annabell asked with a very strong quaver in her voice.

"Yes, he would bite his wrists to write on the walls." Jamal shifted his weight uncomfortably at the thought.

Annabell turned back to the wall. There were several pieces of paper taped to the walls. They all seemed to flap with a wind that had no known source. Annabell took a quick look, all of them were plans on how to trap Batman, how to find his identity, how to destroy him.

Her stomached dropped to her feet. They all seemed like carefully thought out plans that if followed to the letter, each on of them would work.

"How did he escape?" Annabell asked.

"It seems to me, that he had someone on the inside help him. The story that they printed in the newspaper when he was first let out, was complete garbage. No offense, I know you work for them and everything but there is no way anyone would just walk into a cell of an inmate. Like I said, this whole place is maximum security. This may sound silly but we have a strict buddy system. If an employee needs to enter an inmate's cell, there has to be another person there to make sure that the inmate doesn't hurt anybody. For example, earlier today, when I had to help sedate everyone, Dr. Cegmon had to be there for every single person." Jamal finished with a look in his eye that indicated he felt better having explained that whatever happened, it wasn't because an employee wasn't following the code.

Annabell took one last look at all the grimy corners of The Joker's cell, taking notes of what she saw. There were some pieces of purple string and other things of insignificance.

"Okay Jamal," she said after a while, "I guess I'm ready to meet Mr. Arkham now."

Jamal grimaced, "You're going to need your wits about you for that."


End file.
